Conventional sources of power

When we cannot reuse a source of energy after using it once we call them “conventional sources of power” or “non-renewable power resources”. They are the most important conventional sources of power. These include coal, petroleum, natural gas and nuclear energy. Oil is the most widely used source of power.  Coal, petroleum and natural gas account for about 90% of world’s production of commercial energy and hydroelectric and nuclear power account for about 10%.

Types of conventional sources 

     1) Thermal power

     2) Hydro power

     3) Nuclear power

1) Thermal Power

A thermal power is a power in which heat energy is converted to electricity. In most of the places in the world the turbine is steam-driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator.

Thermal power station 

2) Hydro Power

Hydropower refers to the conversion of energy from flowing water into electricity. It is considered a renewable energy source because the water cycle is constantly renewed by the sun. The most common type of hydroelectric power plant uses a dam on a river to store water in a reservoir. Water released from the reservoir flows through a turbine, spinning it, which in turn activates a generator to produce electricity.

Hydro-electric power station

3) Nuclear Power

Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat, which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear power plant. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions.

Nuclear power station 

Conclusion

• The human race widely uses these conventional sources of energy and therefore the magnitude of usage is so high that the resources are depleting at an even faster rate.
• At present, many countries are overly dependent on fossil fuels to meet their requirement for power.
• The deposits of petroleum in our country are quickly exhausting and if it continues, there will be soon complete exhaustion of all the conventional sources of energy.